Zoo lights and happy new year

I know it is well past both these events, but I don't want to miss posting them...

Usually we go to zoo lights most every year, but for the first time in a while we didn't make it last year. Things didn't work out each time we thought about going. So, this year I made it a point to go. Well, time was passing, and we still hadn't made it by Christmas, so we decided that we'd for sure go on Alex's birthday. His birthday is Dec. 30. It turned out to be such a fun activity for his birthday. Such a fun way to end a special day.

It was a very cold night, but dry! I will take the dry over the wet. We made sure to dress extra warm, and I survived with some hand warmers. One by one the kids asked for them, good thing I brought a lot of packs!

That tunnel of lights was so cool. They've changed a lot since we went a few years ago. Some things we thought were better, but some things weren't so great anymore. One thing we noticed was that it is like a one way road through the whole thing, which speeds it all up, but it also seemed like they didn't have as much as they used to. The whole experience didn't take as long as it used to. Part of that was not having to wait 2 hours for the train anymore. More on that later.

These lanterns are so fun. April took a picture of these same lanterns during the summer, but they weren't all lit up and it was day time. She just had to get the same picture. It was fun to see them all lit up.

I love how they do the trees! It is neat how they run the lights along all the branches. It is so many lights, and so neat to see. That is tree lighting done right!

 The train ride...Oh the train ride. It's not like it used to be. We didn't have to wait 2 hours for the train like we used to, but we figured out why. Part of the reason is because it is half the ride it used to be. It used to go all around the zoo, now it just goes out one stretch, around a loop and back. And, it wasn't nearly as fast as it used to be. It was still fun for this little guy. He loved it.

It was hard to capture some of the images while the train was in motion. We saw a lot of creatures like this butterfly. We even saw creepy eyes in the forest. That was new! I thought it was kinda fun.

 And, before we knew it we were done! We had to take a bus from overflow parking, so we got back on a super warm school bus which felt good, and headed back to home. We were surprised how busy it was still after Christmas! Such a fun family night out though.

 Happy New Year!

 Last year I started a tradition of a glow light dance party. It was so fun that we did it again this year. The boys were looking forward to it all night.

We didn't have April this year. She was off at her first new year's dance. She was so excited to have somewhere to go. She always love the excitement of being with her friends.

I made a 2016 banner for the kids to color and decorate in the early evening while they were waiting for all the fun stuff. They surprised me! I wasn't sure if any of them would actually color it, but they did! I just set everything out, and it drew them in.

We watched Swiss Family Robinson that evening as well. The boys enjoyed it.